Self-censorship in American journalism

When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, the Americans leapfrogged to provide cash, weapons and jihad to the mujahideen in order to fight against the Red Army. Fast forward to now, the Russians have invaded another country in their neighborhood and the Americans are again providing money, weapons and training for using those weapons against the Russians. In both cases, the Russians did aggression against defenseless nations and the Americans indulged in what qualified as acts of war against the Russians. An important nuance though is that the Americans are doing it without being provoked and the Russians are not indulging in acts of war against America despite being provoked by America.

When Imran Khan was the Prime Minister of Pakistan, I remember the noise that journalists in Pakistan had to indulge in self-censorship, meaning that journalists knew what they could and couldn’t say, so they treaded carefully to avoid a knock on their door or a phone call from some unknown number. However, reading the American reporting about the war in Ukraine and the American response to it, I came to realise that American journalists practise self-censorship more than perhaps anyone else on the planet. Sure, that is a strong claim to make but I do so because this is the land of the free and home of the brave where you can say anything. There is almost absolute free speech. Yet, despite that when journalists indulge in what could be rightly labeled as bogus, timid and gibberish filled reporting, then self-censorship is the only option left for such mediocre journalism, after I eliminate all others.

So, for example, the US is providing Patriot Missiles to the Ukrainians to be used against the Russians. The Ukrainian soldiers would be flown to the Oklahoma based Fort Sill to be trained to use those missiles. I don’t know about you but that is a clear act of war that the US is indulging in. Once again, the US was not attacked, a different country was. Lo and behold, the mainstream US broadcast media and print journalism hardly ever touch upon this issue. And when they rarely do, the debate is about whether this will be good for America given how the American politics and priorities might change and the Ukraine war might become a protracted war of attrition. And whether the Ukrainians would have their own agendas and what if this ends up becoming mission creep. If you can find so much as even a phrase such as ‘act of war’ or ‘the US has no business there’ in any of this US reporting, tweet it to me.

Imagine if the situation was the opposite, let us see how the US media would be talking. Imagine, if the Russians were flying the Taliban to Moscow or some other Russian city where they were trained in using the missiles that the Russians would be giving the Taliban to be used against THEIR occupiers, namely, the Americans. What do you think the reporting in the American newspapers and broadcast media would be like? I can make some guesses.

“The Russians are indulging in an act of war against the United States of America by giving lethal weapons in the hands of the terrorists, who are driven by their hatred for the freedom and justice that the Americans have. Russia has quickly spiraled into a rogue state under Putin. Russia is violating global norms. By joining the terrorists and giving them weapons and training, the Russians are directly doing terrorism. President Biden has moved swiftly to remove Russia from the Swift system and other means of the global financial transfer system so as to choke their finances. Furthermore, sanctions have been placed on Russian oil and gas in order to tighten the noose around the Russian cash flow to punish them for supporting terrorism. The president reiterated his support for the fight against terrorism.”

The mindset of crime is what others commit prevails.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2023.

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